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Trooperstown Hill is one of the westerly outposts of the Wicklow Mountains and as such it gives good views of much of the surrounding hills to the west, north and south. On clear days the Wicklow coast can be seen to the east and maybe the Welsh Mountains beyond.

There are two principal points of access. The first option is to take the Military road (R755) south from Laragh and take a left turn before Bookey Bridge and another left turn up an unsurfaced road after about 1km. Parking at a junction at T15589540A about 800m along the unsurfaced road. From here a rough track/path on the right heads SE to the junction after about 1km at the southern end of the hill (T165947B) where you turn left and head to the summit which is reached after a further 500m. The time to the top and back is about 1.5hrs. The second option is either to continue along the unsurfaced road and park on the right just before the obvious phone mast at T163961C. This point can also be reached from the north on minor roads from the R763. From this point a short steep track/path leads to the summit which is reached in about 20-25mins. Either walk is not too boggy but the paths have been churned up in places by quad bikes.

A third option would be to park at the car park near the Parks HQ at T159969D and take the path across the Avonmore River then turn left and follow the path up through the forest until reaching the road near to the phone mast. Turn right here and follow second route to the summit. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/5448/

Picture from Colin Murphy : Blooming marvellous...

Picture: Blooming marvellous...

New Comment:

Flying colours

by Colin Murphy 27 Aug 2019

Nothing much to add to the route information. It starts off easy, gets a good bit steeper, and takes about 25 mins to summit. On the beautiful August day I did it, the heather, furze and various other wildflowers were in full, glorious bloom bathed in warm summer light and a deep blue sky overhead, so a very pleasant hour's bagging was had. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/20631/

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Picture from Colin Murphy : Ancient tower of strength...

Picture: Ancient tower of strength...

New Comment:

Take the long view

by Colin Murphy 27 Aug 2019

While at the summit, with the summer's day being so clear, it is possible to see Wicklow's glacial valleys lined up in a row, and even possible to pick out individual monastic buildings in Glendalough. With the help of my zoom lens, I grabbed this shot of the famed round tower from Trooperstown cairn.. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/20632/

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Picture from padodes

padodes on Trooperstown Hill, 2008

by padodes 24 Mar 2008

Unlike all too many of the 400m hills in Wicklow, small outliers plagued with dense forest, Trooperstown (Maolín) is well worth the short climb. Any glance at the map shows why. It is like the centre of a fan, with the long ribs of the eastern mountains descending towards it, their colourful valleys in between, especially Glenmacnass, Glendasan and the entrance to Glendalough (visible in the photo). A whole array of well-known peaks are distinguishable, from the white triangle of the Great Sugar Loaf in the north to the equally recognisable triangle of Croaghanmoira in the south, peeping over the shoulder of Kirikee. In between, there are splendid views of Scarr, Tonelagee,Camaderry, Derrybawn, to name but a few. Even the summit of distant Lugnaquillia is within range. It’s easy to get to Trooperstown Hill. Just south of Laragh, take a left turn before Bookey Bridge and about a kilometre on take a left turn up an unsurfaced road (with care, if you don’t want to risk an axle!). Parking at T 1558 9540A, you’ll see a rutted track to the right, that winds up towards the top at T 1664 9527E. The obvious place to go from here is to the connected 396m top at T 1774 9462F and then on to the 340m top just south, if you contour around the back of the forest. It’s a nice walk down to Clara from here, if you can arrange a second car to meet you. If not, there are so many tracks across these tops that you can follow all kinds of permutations and combinations to get you back to the start without having to retrace your steps. Unfortunately, the terrible quads have also discovered the all-too-accessible beauty of this area and many of the tracks are theirs. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/3015/

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An Overgrowth of Furze at Clarabeg

by jgfitz 27 Mar 2019

On 21/4/19, our group hiked Trooperstown Hill, followed the uploaded track #868. This was an excellent hike until we reached T1842 9268G This grid reference in the text is shown as point G on the Detail Map above'>T1842 9268GG, the point at which the track turns due west. Unfortunately, what had obviously been a track when this was recorded in 2008 is now a very thick growth of furze, and impassable. We were forced to enter the wood, but we progressed with difficulty through the wood for about 300 m. until we reached the clearing. From there, we proceeded without any further difficulty onto the nearby public road, from where we again picked up the track.

On reflection, there seemed to be an alternative option of proceeding straight ahead (southwards) at T1842 9268G This grid reference in the text is shown as point G on the Detail Map above'>T1842 9268GG, which led directly to the public road (with a left and then a right just before the end). I must caution that we didn't explore this option on this occasion, but the part of this track that was visible to us appeared to be clear. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/20474/

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Picture from simon3 : Mists and trees.

Picture: Mists and trees.

Vale of Glendasan View.

by simon3 20 Dec 2010

The cold mists coiling around the trees and slopes of Glendasan provides the midground for this view of Trooperstown from the North West. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/689/comment/6175/